


Not Telling

by Impala_Chick



Series: GenKill Bingo [2]
Category: Generation Kill
Genre: Awkward Dates, Embarrassment, F/M, First Dates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-30
Updated: 2018-07-30
Packaged: 2019-06-18 14:07:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,029
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15487524
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Impala_Chick/pseuds/Impala_Chick
Summary: It was sort of like a modified truth or dare. Of course Ray had started it, and Rudy had said it was a good idea. Something to keep their minds off of all the shit. Most of 2nd Platoon was squatting in a huge knitting circle by Ice Man’s humvee, listening or jeering when appropriate.Tim absolutely 100% did not want to contribute.





	Not Telling

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Generation Kill 10 year anniversary bingo. Prompt was Doc Bryan + First Date. I'm excited that the Bingo encouraged me to write from Doc's POV!

It was sort of like a modified truth or dare. Of course Ray had started it, and Rudy had said it was a good idea. Something to keep their minds off of all the shit. Most of 2nd Platoon was squatting in a huge knitting circle by Ice Man’s humvee, listening or jeering when appropriate.

Tim absolutely 100% did not want to contribute. No matter how much shit Ray and the guys gave him. He was a private guy, first of all. Second of all, once you started talking about back home, you’d start associating it with the fucking desert, and why the fuck would anyone want to do that?

“Fuck, doc. We know you had one. The devil dogs are all fuckin’ hot,” Ray joked as he elbowed Tim in the ribs. 

“We don’t even care if it was a dude, dude. It’s just that it’s your turn,” Q-Tip said, his legs crossed under him like he was a kid in some kindergarten class.

“Look y’all, as fun as this has been, I’m going to catch some shut eye,” Tim said as an excuse to make his exit. He stalked back to his own tent, annoyed that everyone else had been willing to share so much about themselves. They were in a fucking war, and he was still working on his resistance ‘stache, and he wasn’t going to let himself be lulled into some false sense of comfort. Hell, he had up and joined the Navy and traveled halfway around the world to get away from his hometown, so why talk about it now?

However, as soon as he got back to his tent, all he could think about was the proverbial elephant in the room.

His very first, very disastrous date. 

It all went down on a Saturday, at the tender young age of 17.

Tim had two tickets to the County Fair, and he had the perfect girl to take with him. Her name was Johanna, and she had long straight brown hair. She was in the same AP Biology class as him. She sat right behind him, and they kept passing notes back and forth in class until school was about to let out for the summer. On the last day, right before the bell, Tim asked her if she wanted to go out.He remembered how his stomach had done back flips when she said yes. 

Her parents had insisted that they drop her off, so he met her at the entrance to the fair. She smiled at him sweetly and took his hand as soon as her father drove away. Tim kissed her cheek, and he grinned like a huge dork. It started out innocently enough. But the date only got worse from there.

The animal barn was right next to the entrance, so they walked in to look at the livestock. Tim tried to pet a cow just to make her laugh, and stepped in a huge pile of shit. He tried to rub his boot off on some hay while she was petting a Yorkshire pig, but no dice. His right boot smelled like shit the rest of the day and she definitely noticed. 

After they left the barn, they walked through the art building to check out some of the high school entries. There was a weird abstract watercolor in a frame, set up on a table with a white tablecloth over it. The picture had a swirl of oranges and reds in the middle, and reminded Tim of a beautiful sunset. He stepped closer to look at it, and his hip hit the table and knocked five paintings onto the ground. Johanna shrieked and scrambled to pick them all up, but Tim was literally frozen in place for about five minutes.

They finally rushed out of the building, once Tim recovered from his embarrassment. He made a beeline for the carnival, because all of his buddies told him that the best place for a first kiss was the ferris wheel. He needed to step up this date pronto. 

As they walked, they passed a game, the one where you throw balls into glass bottles, and if you knock the right one down you win a prize. He totally played it up by asking her which prize she wanted, and practically guaranteed her that he would win. After all, he played on the JV baseball team. But it turned out tht

He didn’t knock one bottle off the shelf. He was so embarrassed he didn’t say anything on the walk to the ferris wheel.

But then, they reached the line and Tim looked up at the giant metal circle in the sky. Couples were laughing and smiling as they exited the ride, and Tim started to relax. This was a good idea. There was no way the date could get worse, right?

Wrong.

He helped her up into the gondola, and then took a seat nervously next to her. His hands started to feel all sweaty and clammy, but he put one arm around her and squeezed her shoulder. The gondola shook a little bit, and then it started to travel upwards. Johanna smiled at him, and he smiled back. He leaned in close, his heart hammering in his chest. He wondered if it was too soon to go in for a kiss. She was staring at him, and he couldn’t tell if that was a good thing or bad, so he looked out over the edge of the gondola.

It turned out that Tim and heights did not agree with each other.

He started to feel queasy and he could feel bile rising in his throat. His stomach was doing flip-flops and he was white-knuckling the handlebar that went across their laps. He squeezed his eyes as tight as he could.

They reached the top, and Tim was totally terrified. He forced himself to open his eyes so that he didn’t look like a total pussy. And then he looked down…

And puked his corn dog all over the side of the gondola.

So yeah, he was definitely not telling the devil dogs. He would never live it down.

**Author's Note:**

> There is a post on [tumblr](http://impalachick.tumblr.com/post/176430683378/genkill-bingo-doc-bryan-first-date) if you would like to reblog :)


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